New Dada Music_August 2023
Sounds + Links from jaimie branch, Fay Victory, Kris Davis, Oiro Pena, Boundary, Isabel Crespo Pardo, Alan Oldham, La Sape Records, Eli Escobar, and others.
New Dada Music is an occasional (hopefully monthly) summary of releases I am shouting about on Dada Strain’s IG Stories and Twitter, with rhythm, improvisation and community as the forever-beacons. Through the years, people have asked me for Bandcamp Fridays recommendations, and because many of the releases I highlight are available there directly from the artist/label, New Dada Music felt like a useful piece to add to this feed. (It also helps me keep a running annual tally - I’m not good at lists.) Also included towards the bottom are new live tapes, mixes, podcast episodes, archival sites and other musick-centricities that stood out this month, and have a playable sonic footprint. (There is a “no major-DSPs” policy for links.) All texts here are primarily copy-edits, fact-checks and minor amendments to the character-limited write-ups on Elon’s hellscape. (Which I am contemplating abandoning for any original content.) Please support the artists, labels, independent musickers, and broadcasters who struggle against the algorithm and listener apathy. Thank you for reading and listening.
jaimie branch, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem) - The new (and final) jaimie branch Fly or Die record is out. If you follow me, you likely already know that it is— and also that it's pretty hard for me to be objective. But I. think it's a masterpiece: more punk, more jazz, more Breezy. More of my words soon — not now. Meantime, I highly recommend Andy Cush’s write-up, and Gio’s. They’ve always supported.
Eli Escobar, “End of Summer Mix (2023)” - This hour-long kinda-annual kinda-rite-of-passage (Eli’s done ‘em for a couple of summers now) is basically all established Balearic vibes. Yet his choice of sunset records hints less at Cafe del Mar than at Riis Park’s People's Beach concession-stand dances, circa 1984-90. Versions of fave galore.
Oiro Pena, Puna (We Are Busy Bodies) - A Finland-based free-jazz collective (here: quartet+vocalist) led by drummer Antti Vauhkonen. This sixth OP album (but the first on a non-Scandinavian indie, getting some North American distro), is a squealing wonder, w/saxophonist Johannes Sarjasto starring on pieces, many based on Finnish folk songs.
Fay Victor, Blackity Black Black is Beautiful (Northern Spy) - Solo LP from one of NYC's (tho recently decamped) great vocalists/vocal improvisors. A set of bluesy tunes made of voice and keyboards, machine-informed versions of middle-aged diary-like folk confessionals. An absolutely unique sonic diary as show-of-strength.
Kris Davis, Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic) - A sprawling ‘Vanguard live set by keyboardist Davis' all-star quintet Diatom Ribbons' - Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Val Jeanty (turntables/electronics), Julian Lage (electric guitar), Trevor Dunn (electric/double bass) - is well-worthy of the classic lineage of albums recorded there. Grooving, arty, often-electronic rabbit-holes and cul de sacs on a set of incredible tunes.
Boundary, Hummingbird (self-released) - The producer name of young, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic-based Josué Suero, though little of this super-warm, ambient-techno EP (the latest of many on his BandCamp page) hints at the locale. Instead, the drum machines and synths speak of “era,” a halcyon late-'80s full of promises never fulfilled. (H/T Philip Sherburne)
Isabel Crespo Pardo, el rostro (des)cubierto (Lobby Art) - Singer-songwriter Crespo Pardo's solo debut is a wonderful primarily acoustic LP of Spanish-language folk songs, led by a Mediterranean zither called a qanun. That description barely touches on its wispy textures, intimate atmosphere, or gloriously improvised heart.
Various Artists, Swing on Low (La Sape Records) - A comp from a Melbourne, Australia-based label. It's a bewilderingly blue new-generation of space-age bachelor-pad sounds: intersecting ambient indie-jazz vibes, heroic Japanese synth soundtracks, and melodic IDM machinery, by artists who are all new to me. The one vocalist, Olive Knight (tune above), is spectacular. Deep AF.
Alan Oldham, “The Fast Forward Program” archive (Heartthis.at) - Before he was DJ T-1000 (and before he was one of your favorite Detroit techno illustrators), Alan Oldham was a college kid with a legendary radio show on the mighty WDET, the city’s NPR station which seemingly has always had a hand in supporting the city’s electronic music culture. Alan recently found a few tapes of shows from 1990 and 1992, digitized them, and put ‘em up online. Exquisite documents of that moment’s techno-house-industrial sounds.
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: Episode 165: “Dark Star” by the Grateful Dead (podcast) - I was recently introduced to Andrew Hickey’s podcast about the history of the 20the Century’s popular Western music, and decided to jump directly into the episode about a song and band that means a lot to Dada Strain. I have though and written about the Dead A LOT in my life, but there are ideas and perspectives in Hickey’s gargantuan (4 hours and 40 frickin’ minutes!!!!) episode that bring to the band a new context. Or, maybe not new, but that his research, reporting and storytelling create a crumb-trail that winds much further/furthhur, than most pop-culture sociologist are capable of. Warts and all. If you ever yearned for a “History of the Dead” as dreamed up by Adam Curtis, this is it! I would say, absolutely essential for any Deadhead.
Related Materials:
New Dada Music, June & July 2023 // New Dada Music, May 2023 // New Dada Music, April 2023 // New Dada Music, March 2023